D-backs don’t worry about how opponents spend, and fans should not give up due to the Dodgers
As fans panic about the money spent this offseason by the Dodgers, the D-backs are putting together a postseason-contending team reagrdless.
Max Muncy #13 of the Los Angeles Dodgers is forced out at third base by infielder Eugenio Suárez #28 of the Arizona Diamondbacks during the fifth inning of the MLB game at Chase Field on April 30, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
When the Los Angeles Dodgers signed superstar Shohei Ohtani last offseason, Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta asked D-backs general manager Mike Hazen to comment on a division rival stockpiling talent.
“I don’t really care,” he said in a typically blunt manner. “I appreciate being able to play in this division, because if you’re not tested or pounded the way we get pounded sometimes during the regular season, I’m not sure we’re able to go into Philadelphia and win Game 6 and 7.”
The Ohtani signing helped the Dodgers win the NL West and the World Series, but at the same time, the D-backs built a roster capable of returning to the postseason before a late slip against non-Dodger opponents led to their unceremonious end.
Now, fans around the league are once again up in arms about how the Dodgers continue to exploit their riches.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said last year he wanted to build a golden age of Dodger baseball, and his front office has gone out and spent $374 million on contracts this offseason after their billion-dollar winter a year ago.
Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, Roki Sasaki (minor league deal), Michael Conforto and Kirby Yates have all signed or reportedly agreed to join the Dodgers. Blake Treinen and Teoscar Hernandez re-signed to run it back. Signing bonuses and deferred money help the front office spread money around. It’s overwhelming.
The D-backs continue to push toward competing with the Dodgers
Does all that mean the 2025 season is a futile endeavor set up to celebrate the exploitations from Arizona’s rival?
No, because that’s not how baseball works. Is a salary cap needed? Well, that’s against the interest of the players and is going to be a nonstarter in collective bargaining.
Most teams cannot do what the Dodgers have done in terms of spending (projected $369 million). That’s what additional draft picks and bonus pool money do to help smaller-market clubs attain young talent. Some teams can frankly spend more than they are doing.
To Arizona’s credit, it built up the largest payroll in team history (projected $194 million) to stretch the available resources into building the best team it can produce despite TV deal and ballpark uncertainty. Increased interest from D-backs fans and ticket sales help the club do so.
The Diamondbacks expect to make a postseason run in 2025, despite the challenge from division rivals. There is no waiting this out. The D-backs’ pursuit to make the postseason and a run at the World Series cannot change because another team makes moves.
They’ve lost talent when it comes to position players, notably Christian Walker and Joc Pederson, but they also added two 2024 All-Stars in first baseman Josh Naylor and ace starting pitcher Corbin Burnes. Burnes joins what is expected to be a top five-ish rotation in baseball if it stays healthy. Corbin Carroll and Eugenio Suarez are coming off electric second halves, and Ketel Marte was an MVP candidate for much of last year.
A team that led the league in runs last year has its sights on limiting scoring and finding a better balance more closely resembling the 2023 World Series club, which was not as talented a roster as the current rendition.
But that young team showed its confidence and grit in the playoffs, showcasing perhaps better than any other team in recent memory a classic baseball lesson: anything can happen in October.
And whether or not the Diamondbacks can get there has a lot more to do with them than any other team, as was the case last year.
“I say this every year: My expectation is the Dodgers are gonna be better, because they have been almost every single year,” Hazen told reporters back at the GM meetings. “I can’t do anything about that. … If they are the best team in the National League, either on paper or officially, if we can compete with them, that puts us in a better situation long term.”
The MLB competitive climate has changed in some ways but hasn’t in others
The Diamondbacks have to face a great Dodgers regular season team every year, anyway. Nowadays, they only have 13 matchups as opposed to 19 before schedule changes went in effect. The two don’t play each other until May this upcoming season.
Plus, the three Wild Card spots open doors for more clubs to get hot at the right time.
In the postseason, every team is really good and there will be players in particular who step up and others who go quiet. The best team does not always win. Clubs also have to push through a 162-game marathon in decent enough shape health-wise to compete for a title.
In 2023, the Braves held the best record with a juggernaut roster and lost in the NLDS. In 2022, the Dodgers won 111 games and lost in the NLDS. In 2019, the Astros led the league in wins and lost to the Wild Card Nationals in the World Series after Washington eliminated the 106-win Dodgers in the NLDS.
Since 2010, the 2024 Dodgers, 2020 Dodgers and 2018 Red Sox are the only teams to lead the league in payroll and win the World Series. And the 2024 Dodgers were down 2-1 in the NLDS to the Padres on the road but escaped.
The Dodgers will be the favorites to win the NL West and the NL pennant and the World Series. It is going to be hard to beat them. Maybe the Dodgers have broken the model. Maybe they win 120 games and roll through the postseason with an 11-0 record. That’s always possible.
That’s just not what the last 25 years of baseball have laid out, considering the last repeat champion was the 1998-2000 Yankees.
Let’s be optimistic and ask this: What if the Dodgers and D-backs meet in the NLCS?
What if the D-backs can roll out Burnes, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly and either a resurgent Eduardo Rodriguez or a fully realized Brandon Pfaadt or Ryne Nelson in Game 4? That is a high-ceiling crew that on paper can compete against a super team in the opposing rotation.
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Comments
19 Comments
Mr Weiner: This article completely misses the real point in any discussion about the MLB collective bargaining agreement and the massive disparity it leads to between teams that have the willingness and ability to spend massive amounts of money and those that don’t.
The system and the disparity it causes is ruining baseball. There is no such thing as competitive balance in the sport. The only variability we see in who wins the championship is due to the variability in the nature of the sport itself. Even that, over time is getting smaller and smaller.
As the spending of the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees and others increases, we will see the top tier talent move to their teams. Now that we are seeing more deferred money the disparity is getting even worse.
Meanwhile the smaller payroll teams are a de facto talent mill for the big spending teams. Those fans see the young players that they love so much grow up and sign in the big markets.
Sadly, those teams are happy to receive their yearly cut of revenue sharing and tax money.
Sir, you can say that these big signings don’t always lead to a championship, and Dbacks fans shouldn’t worry about it, but that is not entirely true. Big spending raises the floor for the Dodgers and increases their margin for error dramatically.
Meanwhile, if smaller payroll teams do spend money on a signing and the player underperforms that dramatically sets the team back.
In the end this financial disparity overall is hurting the sport. Due to this less and less people care about it each year.
Your article reads as a whitewash of this reality. The system is BROKEN and the rich get richer. Let’s restore some fairness by having a more equitable financial system for the sport. This will only happen if everyone acknowledges the damage to the sport the current system is causing.
Ohhh believe you me!!
Them Draft Dodgers have to deal with US!
And mark my words, they will be all nervous after the rash of injuries, and the scandal involving Ohtani and doping gets dropped!
We are finally seeing the results of the last CBA with no kind of salary cap. The DBack 2023, nice story. But IMO, we are NOW starting to see the real money come into the game and LA has the deepest, richest, organization in BBall. How?? They can just afford to pay scouts and probably the towel boys more money, not to mention the MLB depth. Bottom line, there will be some squeakers to make things interesting, but more than not LA and NY are going to rule baseball. IMO